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I have been putting my little girl on the toilet 3 times a day for the last month, just so she gets use to it. She would sit there and clap her hands and smile at us with the whole " look at me" look in her eyes and low and behold Yesterday she did number 1's and number 2's while sitting on her toilet seat! She was shocked at first but we clapped her and then she looked in the toilet and said "That".... she then got to flush and wash her hands which she loves doing. I don't expect her to do this every time we sit her on the toilet but I do think it is good to get them use to sitting on it.. I do agree with the other Mum's where taking your child to the restroom with you will show them that first you have no fear while sitting on your toilet and second it is a normal process. I also suggest putting your boy in briefs during the summer, he will pee and poop a few times but he will not feel comfortable as the material wont absorb anything like pull ups would and he will either pull of his undies before doing it or after a few accidents he will start to tell you in his own way (if he is not talking yet). With my other 2 children I found Pull ups confused them more than anything. Good luck!

Since my son never lets me set him down and there's no one to hold him, I've taken him with me to the bathroom since he was born. He'll be 1 on May 13th and he's already flushing the toilet and can put the lid up and down. We got a lid that closes slowly so we won't have to worry about little parts getting hurt. I've tried running him to the potty a few times when I know he's pooping but sitting on it scares him and he usually won't go after that. I have a potty seat for him but it's going to be one of his birthday presents. I feel like the other person said, if he learns then great, if not then that's fine. His dad learned at a year and a half so hopefully he'll be a quick learner too.

I learned recently that the old school of thought was that the earlier the better for potty training, but recently experts are saying that just puts added stress on you & the child, and that you don't really need to worry about it at all until they're really interested & capable. The average age has gotten older. Anyway, I definitely plan on letting my son watch me while I discuss with him what I'm doing. Also, he grunts and holds really still when he's about to poo, so I figure I'll immediately grab him & take him to the potty when I see that cue. I might let him just stay in a diaper (no pants) when we're at home to make this process faster. Obviously if it freaks him out I won't do it, but if it works we can cheer & make a really big deal about what he did. Good luck!

A friend told me that girls supposedly potty train best at 3... but my son will be 1 on May 10th and he's learning to walk. As soon as he's steady on his feet we're breaking out our training potty. I'm going to do it the way my mom trained me. When we go to the bathroom so does the little guy. so he learns by example... It worked for me.

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Diane - posted on 06/01/2010

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My daughter turned 1 on May 6th. I bought her a potty and sit her on it without a nappy whenever I go to the toilet so she learns by watching what I do. She's used it 3 times and each time she does a pee I show her and clap and make sure she knows she did something good.

My son turned one on the 10th, and I think potty training it going to be a tough journey for us. I've tried sitting him on his potty a few times, and he cried/screamed bloody murder each time! So, I think I'm going to put it off a while longer. My mother said I was potty trained around 14 months, but that she regrets it because I ended up having lots of accidents. However, my little sister was potty trained at 2.5 and only had a few.

I've been putting my little girl on the potty since before christmas. She was even able to tell me once in a shop while doing the christmas shopping that she wanted to go. she was only 5 months at the time. unfortunately I got out of the habit over summer, and am only just now getting back into it. She is now 11 months old. I wish I hadn't felt embarrased taking my little'un to the toilet in the malls, friends houses and I wish I had stuck to it as I'm sure she would have been well trained by now. She was going on demand and able to comunicate with me (by the look on her face) that she needed to go.

I'm going to wait until closer to 18 months. My son is starting to walk, too so I want to make sure he is able to do the required actions like pulling undies down, etc. I'll need to help him a lot but I have read that most kids will be potty trained by 2.5-3 years no matter when you start, so earlier jut means it may take longer. I'm of he opinion that its better to start well before kids are old enough to realize they can use potty matters as a bargaining tool!

My daughter is a year old and i have started to introduce her to going on the potty after naps. I am hoping that she will make this a part of her routine over the months to come. She is still too young to know what going to the potty is but every time i put her on the potty she goes. Good luck to you!

my son just turned one on the 9th and I haven't even started thinking about potty training him. i'm going to wait till he can understand what is going on and he can at least kinda tell me when he has to go that why we aren't in the bathroom waiting all day. plus i think he's too wild and active to want to just try to sit there. But good luck with when you choose to start it!

I introduced my daughter to the potty at 15 months. I started that early so it would enable her to get in the mold of going to the potty, before the actual potty time came along(18 months). She's now 23 months and knows what she supposed to do, and where she's supposed to do it. She still has a little way to go tho, I'd say she should have it down-packed way before she's 3, once she gets outta her "go when she feel like it" stage, LOL. Therefore, since we've reached the point of knowing what everyone's role is, all is left to do is wait for her to get comfortable going by herself all the time. There will be no tolerance for anyone peeing on themselves at the age of three. In, other words, no excuses, no more poppings, we move further along to spankings, because she knows better, I know she knows better, and I know that she knows that I know she knows better. However, that timing was right for me to get her prepared and make room for my son who just turned one yesterday. I'm not sure yet on when I'll start him tho. Of course I'd rather wait until he's gotten comfortable walking, which he isn't even doing yet. Don't want to have him focused on learning to walk and potty training at the same time, have to pace things, not forcing it, so they'll actually feel confident about doing things themselves, instead of you making them do it, but maintain your assertiveness as well as patience, they know what you'll tolerate, and they will try ya, ya know! Know that throughout any ordeal you must have faith tho, don't just want them to be able to do it, truly believe they can do it. They're so smart and so pure, it's amazing!

well, caylee is 11 months old, and we are starting her. actually she is kinda starting herself. she saw her potty that granny got her, and she was grabbing at herself when she needed to poop, so we are gonna start getting her into a routine that she is comfortable with...

I started potty training at 5 months by introducing him to his little potty and he has always gone with me or his dad to the restroom. He is not afraid of the potty which is good. On queue he can do his buisness on the potty. BUT now that he is more into looking at the things around him it ishard to get him to sit on the potty. He doesn't tell me when he needs to "go" but I try to take him as much as I can. I am to take him every hour but I don't do that so that is my bad. He does recognize the noise to "go" when I make it. He is 1 today so I look forward to him being potty trined by 18 months hopefully. The Book I read is called Elimination Communication.

I'm not thinking about it until he seems interested. They'll indicate that they know they went pee or poo, they'll tell you. My son, now 7 was just over 3 when he started and he picked it up quickly. I let him guide us on when to start. My DD, now 5 was around 18 months when she poop trained because she kept getting diaper rash (very sensitive), so I told her if she went in the potty she wouldn't have diaper rash anymore, so she did. Pee was done around 2 years.

my son will be 1 on the 27th may and im not even thinking about potty training until he is roughly 2. i persoally think that 1 is way too young for a child to understand such a big step in life for them. if it works for your child then good luck! :)

i WAS TOLD BY A DOC THAT YOU SHOULD DO IT BETWEEN 27 MONTHS AND 32 MONTHS HOPE THIS HELPS ALL MY KIDS WERE DIFFERENT BUT MT GIRLS WERE A BREEZE COMPAIRED TO MY SON WE WILL SEE IF IT MATTERS WHEN MY LAST BABY A BOY GETS TO TRAINING AS HE IS 11 MONTHS.

my lil girl will be 1 oin the 9th n she pooped in her potty 3 days ago i noticed she was about to go so i set her on it she was excited especially when she flushed the toilet by herself im sure she doesnt really understand what happened. i put her on a few times a day n when i notice shes about to go. i have no expectations or trying to force her i just want her to get used to it n not be afraid. so i say u should start introducing the potty whenever u feel is the right time because every kid is different and only u know what they are capable of. my daughter started walking at 8 1/2 months so shes a lil advanced in the things she does. goodluck

hey sarah my daughter will be 1 on the 25th and i am not thinking that far ahead yet its too young. Although we are going on hols in aug so we will let her run around with no nappy on her and see if we can get her to understand about weeing in the loo!! My son who is now 9 this yr was a scamp he was toilet trained at 2 but would not under any circumstsances do a poo in the toilet it had to be in a nappy that went on till he was alomst 4!!! way too late but you will no by your child when it is right for them dont stress over it. Good luck

My daughter will be 1 on may 8. because of recent medical issues, i'm now having to start potty training her. she has no clue what a potty even is!! its going to be hard but its just something i have to do so we'll see how it goes :) i'm starting this weekend

hello, my son will be 1 on may 11th as well. For about a month now I have started potty training him. No pressure, only when he wakes up in the morning and after every nap. He seems to like it. Will see. Good luck

my son is a year old in a weeks time. he walks round the furniture, but once he is steady on his feet and walkng unaided then i will introduce him to the potty,but am not going to push him into doing it,i tryed to early with my daughter and it turned into a nightmare.

We have just started the potty training with our 2-year-old twin girls. I'm not thinking about my other daughter, who will be one on May 25, going to the potty just yet. She has been going into the bathroom with me since birth, and she also goes in when the other girls are sitting on the potty. We'll just see how it goes with the twins. Right now, there is a very low success rate, but I'm not worried at this time.

He is too young to start potty training, he pysically can't hold his bladder, my older son will be 3 end of June and we are currently in potty training mode, today is day 3 with no diapers only underware when awake, I still put a diaper on him for sleeping, he did ask me to go potty 4 times in the first hour of bedtime, and I will use a pull up for outings. 1st day he had tons of accidents, he cryed and hated the wet feeling "pull ups don't work as they are like a diaper and they really don't feel wet" 2nd day less accidents, and today even less so far. We did try starting early with him but he really wasn't ready, he rather play with the potty then go pee in it! Then we stopped for awhile but still once in awhile bringing it up, he did go in it a few times but not alot and he still wanted to wear diapers, didn't help that he has a baby brother. My friends daughter is 2 1/2 and she is 100% potty trained, even at night she gets up on her own to go. She was here on the weekend and that helped incourage my son to use the potty. I went out and bought a dozen pairs of underware some with cars on them. he likes them and being like daddy wearing underware. we have done the reward method with toys, treats, done the calender with stickers, none of these things worked. I am finding that the underware and him feeling the wet and we have been putting him on the potty every 10-15 mins and encouraging him and praising him telling him we are so proud of him, is working out so far, we just have to keep it going don't give up.

I tried Ethan at 8 months and he did a wee and a poo so I thought it was fantastic. Turned out it was just a fluke as he now sticks his legs out so they are rigid and will not go on the potty again. He'll be one at the end of this month but I'm thinking I'll start trying again soon. I just leave it for a couple of weeks if he gets annoyed at me - I think it's best not to force it but on the other hand the sooner he's trained the better. Won't have to spend a fortune on nappies!

I am going to start the Baby Signs Potty Training (you can find it on Amazon.com or many other places) that uses sign language to have them potty trained before 2. It got great reviews, so once we move late this summer I am going to start it with Piper. :-)

My parents started looking after my daughter when she was 8 months old while I was at work part time, they put me on a potty from 8 months so had bought one for both of us anyway. They put shyla on it and she peed, almost instantly, but our trick was to take her nappy off and tell her ok time for potty now, put her on it and see what she would do, she went for about 3 weeks straight first thing in the morning after getting out of bed and having her feed to poo and pee on the potty, it was great, then she went right off it, we still get a pee pretty much 80% of the time we put her on it, but if the poo aint coming it aint coming LOL We still put her on it every time we take her nappy off, she still pee's and poo's in her nappy and doesnt 'hold on' for the potty but its just getting her used to what it is for.

Why we started so early is children are so bright, and I trust her knowing what the potty is for when she starts talking, she understands what to do on it so she does know already, but it will make the transition later on so much easier.

My son will be 1 on May 13th. He goes on the potty every morning about 15 minutes after he wakes up. We tried if for fun a few weeks ago, and it worked. Only first thing in the morning though, because that's the only time when we know he for sure needs to go #2... we're not stressing about it, and if we miss it, we miss it. I just think it'll get him used to it for when we really need to start training him. And hey... one less poopy diaper to clean up!

Working in child care I have seen and been apart of many OTHER children's toilet training tragedy's and triumphs. I have seen that pull ups are a waste of time and money, as many children just use them as they do a normal diaper. I have seen that the toweling training pants are best, because they are undies and the children can actual feel when they are wet and most of them will come up and tell you. Im talking children as young as 15 months.Now Ive got my own son (one on the 5/7) im contemplating the whole toileting issue. Im considering starting him when he is around 15 months, cause Im due to have our second in November. My hope is to have him at least out of the day time diaper by then. Also by the time he reaches 15 months it will be coming into the Australian Summer, so it wont matter if he doesnt have trousers or shorts on while he is learning.

My son is 3 and still doesnt want to use the toilet, I dont know what to do. He likes to flush but thats it. we tried pull ups waste of time and we tried the naked and underwear thing i got tired of cleaning up pee every where... not sure what to do and to top it of i have a daughter who will be one on 5/12 not sure whats gonna happen :(

We started introducing the potty to my son when he was 18 months and by 2 years he was completely trained. I know, every child is different, but I plan to do the same with my daughter. She'll be wearing diapers until her 2 year old Birthday and then they'll all disappear.

I started potty training my daughter at 18 mos. It took several attempts-I did it when she was interested but when it became too much of a fight, I backed off. A little after her 2nd b-day she would tell me when she was going in her diaper. I didn't want to mess w/ full potty training b/c I had a new baby too. My mom suggested that I jump on it right away and when she said she was going, to put her on the toilet. I also took all diapers off too-she only had one time when it ran down her legs and then she started controlling herself. We then moved to training pants after a day or two. We haven't looked back!

We decided to wait til our son can walk and talk, that way he can walk to the toilet and tell us when he needs to go. He is fully walking now and can say a few words and tell us when he is thirsty or hungry so we are thinking of buying a toilet soon. Although I will probably wait a couple weeks after his birthday(May 9th) because I will be too busy to start training him.

I haven't started potty training quite yet. We did buy a potty, and when he's pooping, pretty soon we're going to start sitting him on the chair, in his diaper, while he's doing his business. (He always grunts while he's going so we know...lol) But I'm not going to force him to stay there if he doesn't want....Just to try and get him in the habit of being on it. I think its too early for them to really understand the concept yet!

My son will be a year on May 5th and I wouldn't even dare think of it right now! lol More power to you if you want to start...I know people do, but I think generally, they aren't going to be ready for another 6 months to a year, so you will be training for 6 months to a year. I started my oldest at 21 months and he was completely day/night trained right after his 2nd birthday. We started out naked in the house and then switched to undies as soon as he had the naked thing down. Had quite a few accidents the first week in underwear, but we never looked back and he did great! I definitely recommend skipping pull-ups...they are just glorified diapers and I think parents get caught in the pull up trap. Good luck! :)

I have always heard that children first start to show interest in the potty around a year and a half, and if you miss that time, they normally show interest again around two. Also there's rumors about girls training more easily than boys, but all children will learn at their own rate. I would recommend taking him in the restroom with you and talk him through the process. Like "this is the toilet, you go to the bathroom on it, one day you will too!" Then when you are done explain to him "you have to shut the lid and flush and then wash your hands!" I have done this with my daughter who just turned 11months. She giggled at first, but now she knows the deal and she even goes over near the lever and flushes the toilet and we wash our hands together. When toilet training is made fun and exciting it makes the child more interested, especially if they know it's a big person (kid) thing! Hope this helps!

We tried this with my son. He is now three and we are still in the process of getting him totally finished. The biggest thing we have trouble with is Pull Ups. They threw him backwards. He knew they were a mix between big boy underwear and diapers, so therefor he didn't know how to treat them. I wish you the BEST OF LUCK as I know have another one to train. He will be 1 next month.